الفرات الطاغي ! — Jawahiri

طغَى فضوعف منه الحسنُ والخَطَرُ

وفاض فالأرضُ والأشجارُ تنغمِرُ

It surged beyond bounds, doubling its beauty and danger.

And it overflowed, submerging earth and trees.

وراعت الطائرَ الظمآنَ هيبتُه

فمرَّ وهو جبانٌ فوقَه حذِر

And its majesty terrified the thirsty bird,

so it passed above it, timid and wary.

كأنما هو في آذيِّه جَبَلٌ

على الضفاف مُطلٌّ وهي تنحدر

As though amid its surging waves it were a mountain,

looming over the banks as they sloped down.

رَبُّ المزارعِ والملاّحِ راعَهما

بالحول منه عظيمُ البطش مقتدِر

Master of farmer and boatman, it terrified them both

with its might—fierce in its onslaught, powerful.

باتت على ضَفَّتيه الليلَ تحرُسُه

غُلبُ الرجال لما يأتيه تنتظر

They spent the night on its two banks, watching it:

burly men, awaiting what it would do.

راحو أُسارى مطأطين الرؤوسَ له

وراح طوعَ يديه النفعُ والضرر

They became captives, bowing their heads before it,

and benefit and harm became subject to its hands.

مَشَى على رِسْلِه لا الخوفُ يَردَعُه

ولا عن الفِعلة النكراءِ يعتذِر

It moved at its leisure: no fear restrained it,

nor did it apologize for its heinous deed.

ومر يَهزَأ من أيد تقاومه

تسعَى لتحكيم أسداد وتبتدِر

And it passed, mocking hands that resisted it,

striving to reinforce dams and rushing to act.

فكلُّ ما بلغَ الانسانُ من عَنَتٍ

قُوى الطبيعةِ تأتيه فيندحِر

For however far humankind goes in arduous struggle,

nature's forces assail it, and it is routed.

وما " الفرات ُ " بمسطاعٍ فمختَضَدٍ

ولا بمستعبَد بالعُنفِ يُقتَسر

The Euphrates is not to be subdued and broken,

nor enslaved and coerced by violence.

كم من معاركَ شنَّ الفنُ غارتَها

على " الفرات " ولكنْ كانَ ينتصر

How many battles has human skill launched

against the Euphrates—yet it always prevailed.

نَموذَجٌ " للأنانيينَ " ليس له

ولا عليه ، أفازَ الناسُ أم خسِروا

A model for the selfish: no gain to it,

and no loss, whether people win or lose.

في حينَ باتَ جميعُ الناس يُرهبُهم

في كل ثانيةٍ عن سَيره خَبَر

Meanwhile, all the people were gripped by fear,

with news of its advance every second.

ملءُ القلوب خشوعٌ من مهابتِه

وملءُ أعينهم من خوفِه سَهر

Hearts were filled with awe at its majesty,

and their eyes with sleeplessness from fear of it.

وراح شُغْل النوادي عن فظاظته

يُجرى الحديثَ وفيه ينقضي السهر

And its harshness became the gatherings' concern;

talk flowed, and the wakeful hours passed in it.

ورُوِّعَ السمعُ حتى بات من ذَهَل

يود سَمعُ الفتى لو أنه بَصَر

Hearing was terror-struck, until, in bewilderment,

a young man's hearing wished that it were sight.

واستُبطِئت عن نَثَا أخباره بُرُدٌ

واستُنهِضَ البرقُ يُستقصي به الخَبَر

Couriers were deemed too slow in spreading its news,

and the telegraph was roused to investigate the news.

هو " الفرات " وكم في أمره عَجَبٌ

في حالتيهِ وكم في آيِه عِبَر

It is the Euphrates—how much wonder lies in its ways,

in its two states, and how many lessons in its signs!

بينا هو البحرُ لا تُسطاع غضبتُه

إذا استشاطَ فلا يُبقي ولا يَذرَ

One moment it is a sea whose rage cannot be withstood:

when it flares, it spares nothing and leaves nothing.

إذا به واهنُ المَجرى يعارِضُه

عودٌ ويمنعه عن سيره حَجَر

Then suddenly its current is feeble, obstructed

by a stick, its advance blocked by a stone.

طَمَى فردَّ شبابَ الأرض قاحلةً

به وعادت إلى رَيعانها الغُدُر

It swelled, restoring the youth of parched earth

with its waters, and the pools returned to their prime.

وأشرفت بقعةٌ أُخرى ألَّم بها

على الممات فأمسَت وهي تُحتَضر

And another tract it had visited drew near

to death, and lay dying.

وودَّعَ الزارعون الزرعَ وانصرفوا

للماء ما زَرَعوا منه وما بَذَروا

The farmers bade farewell to their crops and departed;

what they had planted and sown belonged to the water.

من كان بالامس يعلو وجهَهُ فرحٌ

بما يُرجِّيه غطَّ وجهَه كَدَر

He whose face had shone with joy yesterday

at what gave him hope—gloom now covered his face.

وقطَّبت بعد تهليل أسرَّتُه

وبان فوق خُطاه الضعفُ والخَوَر

His features frowned after beaming,

and weakness and exhaustion showed in his steps.

صُبَّت عليها بلاياه ونقمتُه

أنا " القصورُ " فلا خوفٌ ولا حذَر

Its calamities and vengeance were poured upon them.

'I am the palaces: no fear, no caution!'

طافت عليه حنايا الكوخ واقتُلِعَتْ

مضارِبُ البيت منه فهي تنتثر

The cottage's curved ribs floated on it, and uprooted

were the dwelling's poles, torn from it and scattered.

غط الهديرُ فغضَّت منه ثاغيةٌ

ورددت ثغيّها من خلفِها أُخر

The roar boomed, and a bleating ewe hushed before it,

while others behind it echoed its bleating.

واستحكمت ضجةٌ من كل ناحية

جاءت إليها بموتٍ عاجلٍ نُذُر

A clamor grew intense from every side,

where warnings came of imminent death.

ورُبَّ طالبةٍ بالماء راضَعَها

ورب عاريةٍ بالماء تأتزر

And many a seeker it suckled with water,

and many a naked woman girds herself with water.

وصفحةٍ من بديع الشعر منظرهُ

طامي العُباب مُطِلاً فوقَه القَمَر

Its scene is a page of exquisite poetry:

surging waves, with the moon looking down upon it.

وقد بدت خضرةُ الأشجار لامعةً

مغمورةً بسناه فهي تزدهِر

The trees' greenery appeared gleaming,

bathed in its radiance, so it glows.

ومن على ضَفَّتيه انصاعَ منغمرا

في الماء نصفٌ فوقَه الشَجر

And from atop its two banks there slid, submerged

in the water, a half with trees above it.

باتت على خَطَرٍ ناسٌ بثورته

وراح يؤنُسنا في المنظر الخَطَر

People were imperiled by its fury,

while danger in the scene began to delight us.

وهكذا الناسُ يُغريهم تخيُّلُهم

حتى يَجيئوا الى البَلْوى فيختبروا

Thus people are beguiled by their imagination,

until they meet affliction and experience it.

كما أتى الحربَ فنانٌ ليرسُمَها

في حينَ آخرُ يُصلى جسمَه الشرَر

As an artist came to war to depict it,

while sparks scorched another's body.

روحٌ جرت لم يُردْ نَفعا بها بدنٌ

وعسجدٌ سال إلا أنه هَدَر

A spirit flowed, but no body sought benefit from it,

and gold flowed, yet it was wasted.

هذا المشيِّدُ للعُمران ريِّقَه

في الرافدين به العُمرانُ يندثر

This builder of civilization's first flowering

in the land of the Two Rivers—through it, civilization vanishes.

كان العراقُ سواداً من مزارعه

على بنيهِ يفيءُ الظلُ والثَمَر

Iraq was dark with its cultivated fields,

shade and fruit spreading over its children.

تَفيض خيرا على الأقطار غلَّتُه

موفورةً لسنين الجوع تُدَّخر

Its harvest poured bounty over the lands,

plentiful, stored for years of famine.

ووزّع الماءَ عدلاً في مسايله

فكلُّ ناحيةٍ يجري بها نَهَر

And it distributed water fairly through its channels,

so every district had a river flowing through it.

باسم " الفرات " وتنظيمٍ له خُلقتْ

دوائرٌ لم يَبِنْ من سعيها أثَر

In the name of the Euphrates and its regulation, were created

departments whose efforts left no visible trace.

أغفَت طويلاً ولما هاجَ هائجُه

جاءته بعد فواتِ الوقتِ تبتدِر

They slumbered long, and when its raging flood rose,

they came rushing to it when it was already too late.

وهاهو الماءُ موتٌ في زيادته

وفي النقيصةِ مسروقٌ فمُحتَكَر

And here is the water: death in its excess,

and in scarcity, stolen, then monopolized.